Candlelight
by Simplysheree
Summary: Male!Shep gets ready for a special dinner with Tali. Fluff everywhere!


**A little something for maleshepxtali shippers ! **

**I own nothing!**

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Candle light.

Music and a good dinner, it was all here and there was only ten minutes left until she arrived.

Shepard chewed his lip, clenched his fists in anticipation and tried to ignore the metallic smell of the dextro food sitting across the table from him at the empty space. Tali, the thought of her alone made him smile: it had been so long since the first day they met but every detail was still fresh. She was such a small thing: slim and curved but she had so much power in her. Intelligence and ferocity and raw ability to stun and amaze. Her will was second to none.

And he had loved her from that day, though he didn't tell her until they were nearing Ilos and there was so little time after for them to talk about it. But they did, eventually, and every day since they had been together in some way or another. Now the last obstacle was to be removed. That goddamned helmet that muffled her voice and covered her face, that made it impossible for him to even see her smile or cry. He fiddled with the cutlery and shuffled his feet, checking the time for what could have been the fourth time that minute. His palms were sweating, his throat was dry and on the roof of his mouth a sticky, foul tasting film had come from nowhere: if he didn't know better he would have thought that this was fear. He had nothing to fear: ExoGeni had put all their available resources into this immune system bolstering drug and it _would_ work. It had to.

His eyes flicked to the clock, five minutes to go.

Running his hands over the table cloth, he grimaced at the dark patches they left, folding them quickly in front of his body. He couldn't think about it not working: he hadn't been dragged from the rubble of the citadel to spend the next ten years unable to kiss her. Licking his lips, he checked bottles of wine, again, to pass the time.

Three minutes.

A whoosh of air caused him to jump into the air a little, thinking that it was the elevator bearing her to him. Of course it wasn't; it was the air conditioning ramping up a notch to keep the room at its specified temperature.

"EDI, is Tali aboard yet?" He ignored the sick, worried feeling in his gut and smiled brightly as if it would affect the response the AI gave him. EDI's soothing, synthesised voice flowed into the room quickly,

"She has just come aboard, Commander, would you like me to give her a message?"

"No..." He said sitting down, quickly adding, "No, it's ok." She was early, was that a good sign? Surely it was! He smiled and considered what was to come: she had promised to let him help her remove the mask the first time. The symbolism had not been lost on her.

This time the elevator doors did open. And there she was, padding into the room on light feet with her head tilted to the side a little as she looked for him. He stood, heart hammering in his throat with a head that suddenly felt light as air,

"Tali..." He extended a hand to her, waiting for the outburst of joy, the excitement that never came as she pressed her head to his shoulder,

"John... I'm so sorry." She sobbed, just a little, and his heart fell, "It didn't take... I'm so-"

"Don't be sorry," He forced on a smile, tears burning his eyes, "Don't be sorry, love, it's not your fault. You did everything exactly the way they told you."

He slipped his arms around her waist, sighing a little, squeezing hard before he remembered how sore the pills had made her. He lessened his grip and chuckled,

"So is there anything I can do with that dinner to make it good for you or will I just put a straw in the wine?" Her laugh was as musical as ever, even if it was tainted with tears,

"I- no... I think it'll just have to be the wine." She put her hands on her hips, "I have an emergency induction port afterall... may as well get some use out of it." She wiped away something from his cheek, "John are you crying?" He shook his head, trying to brush it off,

"Commander Shepard doesn't cry."

"Yes he does." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into the warmth and security of her body, the floral smell that surrounded her filling his nostrils, "And it's ok."


End file.
